Page 20 of The Exposed Heiress

She approached the table and looked at the various images. “These are fabulous. It’s so good to see these images. It gives me hope that the collection will be well- received.”

Louise tapped on the table above one photograph. “Your re-inventing the simple black dress is stunning.”

Leo placed his hands on the table. “I appreciate all of your hard work and brilliance on the campaign. But we have to deal with some pressing matters at Francis Bolles.”

There was a flurry of goodbyes, and then they took the elevator down to the ground floor.

Emma glanced at Leo. “How has your agency been able to keep working for us without getting paid? You have overhead and expenses, obviously.”

Slipping his phone into his suit jacket, he said, “It’s been tough, especially with you advocating strongly for our dismissal. There were several times that I was close to just saying, ‘Enough, let’s part ways.’”

She looked down at her feet. “Yes, well, it was a difficult time for me.”

He leaned back against the wall. “You wanted Tyler and anything connected to him banished from your life.”

Her hair fell forward and covered part of her face. “It was a painful time, Leo. I did want to separate from anything connected to the Bloom family. I had no idea that you had been working for free.”

He flexed his shoulders. “Would that have made a difference?”

Emma glanced at him. “Yes. I wish my father had been more forthcoming about the problems. I may have been able to see the complexity of the situation and offer assistance.”

His voice sounded harsh and unforgiving. “You’d have acted the same way: at the first sign of trouble, you’d have been ready to cast everyone out of your realm.”

The elevator doors opened.

Emma looked at him. “If a woman cheated on you in a hugely public way, you’d have what, sought counseling, forgiven her?”

He stepped closer to her and said in a low voice, “I wouldn’t have been so ready to believe what was reported in the media.”

She swallowed hard. “It’s difficult to know how you’d act until it happens to you.”

* * *

Leo tookin a deep breath and willed his body to remain calm. “Be careful of the playing the victim. Tyler was set up because your family didn’t think he was good enough to marry you.”

Emma froze and she glanced at a couple coming into the building.

Leo placed his hand on her lower back and gently guided her towards the revolving doors. “This isn’t the place for this conversation.”

Out on the street, he signaled to her driver. The black Mercedes pulled up near the curb and he opened the door for her.

He shouldn’t have brought up his brother. It all happened months ago and it showed weakness. Tyler had been ready to marry Emma, but when it all came crashing down, he had rebounded swiftly.

But after everything that he had done for James Bolles, it had been a blow. Leo idolized the man. But when he confronted James about someone hiring the prostitute and tipping off the media, the older man had blamed his wife. He insisted that she thought Tyler wasn’t the right match for their daughter.

His head began to pound and he pressed on his forehead. He had assumed that Emma had been complicit in the scheme, but maybe not. It no longer mattered. He owed James Bolles and by helping his daughter salvage what was left of Francis Bolles, he’d fulfill his debt to him.

“I was the victim.”

Leo made an effort to relax his tense back muscles. “We create the relationship that we want. If you decided you wanted to end the engagement, you could have told Tyler directly instead of getting involved in an elaborate scheme to humiliate him.”

Emma placed her hand on her chest. “Are you suggesting that I hired a reporter to capture images of Tyler with a prostitute?”

He didn’t want to get drawn into the discussion. “I’m not suggesting. I know it happened. Your mother hired the prostitute and tipped off the reporter.”

She sat forward in the seat. “That is an outright lie. My mother would never do that. Never. She cares too much about the image of the family and what gets reported in the press.”

His heartbeat accelerated. “Yes, she cared enough about the image of the family to prevent her precious daughter from tying herself to a Bloom.”

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